60 Minutes Overtime

Where Germs Live: Bed And Bath

Even if you're the best housekeeper in the world, germs and bacteria are lurking in your home where you least expect it.

For the second part of the germ series, The Early Show took a trip up to Hastings N.Y., to show one homeowner that what you see is not always what you get, especially when it comes to germs.

Working mom Ramona Grey-Harris gave a rundown of what it takes to keep her spacious New York home clean. Her home appeared spotless but Joseph Schulman, a specialist in the cleaning industry found, used an ultra-violet light to find areas where germs and bacteria were lurking.

The most germ-ridden room in most homes is the kitchen, sometimes containing up to 200 times more fecal bacteria on the kitchen cutting board than on the bathroom toilet seat. At Grey-Harris' kitchen, two of the areas of contamination included the stove corner and knobs.

The key is to know the difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing. Dr. Philip Tierno, the director of clinical microbiology at New York University Medical Center and author of "The Secret Life Of Germs," explains the difference.

"Cleaning is removing dirt," he says, "When you disinfect you are adding a chemical to kill germs that are present on a surface. When you sanitize, you only lower the level of germs."